From the Filmtracks website:
“Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi): (Joe Hisaishi) Few animators in the history of cinema have been as acclaimed as Hayao Miyazaki, king of the Japanese anime genre in the 1990’s and 2000’s. While not known widely outside of Japan in comparison to animated competition from America, Miyazaki’s films are known for several consistent distinctions of quality, including vivid visual representations using techniques not reliant upon computers, a keen sense of storytelling in his own scripts, and an environmental agenda that often works its way into the stories. As in many comparable Studio Ghibli productions, 2001’s Spirited Away is a film of both surprising length and content able to entertain children and adults over that time. Larger explorations of the topic of identity are the focus of Spirited Away, a young girl and her parents inadvertently transferred to a realm of spirits and bizarre creatures where the parents are turned into pigs and the girl needs help from the strange inhabitants of this foreign universe to free her family and return to the real world. It’s a story that refreshingly avoids the pitfalls of predictability that usually restrain the effectiveness of many animated tales. One of the greatest ironies in the world of animation is the fact that Walt Disney Pictures acquired the rights to distribute Miyazaki’s films in the United States, often disgracing their own catalog when offering the usually superior Japanese releases. After some disgruntlement with how Disney handled the translation and distribution of the Miyazaki hit Princess Mononoke a few years earlier, Disney took great care in how it dubbed and promoted Spirited Away, earning a surprising but widely rejoiced Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002. One of the other reliable consistencies involving Miyazaki films is Joe Hisaishi’s music for them. After decades of collaborations, the international spotlight placed on Studio Ghibli through the wide distribution of films like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea gave Hisaishi’s music an overdue audience outside of Japan. While he is prolific in his compositional career in all genres in his native country, Hisaishi’s output for the animated genre has created a unique voice in the realm of children’s music that is difficult to compare to any other film music composer. His airy and whimsical tone and almost Golden Age-style of melodic grace make his music instantly recognizable, and Spirited Away is no exception. One of the primary reasons Spirited Away remains a popular score among Hisaishi collectors is precisely because of its embodiment of the composer’s trademark animation sound. Because of its free-floating spirit, the work shares far more sensibilities with Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea than Princess Mononoke, both an asset for the majority and a potential annoyance for others. Hisaishi has the capability to maintain a carefree atmosphere of innocence better than perhaps any Hollywood composer, utilizing elegantly swaying themes in a rather shallow orchestral environment to suggest an additional element of simplicity and innocence. Film music enthusiasts unfamiliar with his style will be interested in the application of a handful of the score’s fuller percussion and brass cues, including the last thirty seconds of “Nighttime Coming,” a burst of energy reminiscent of John Williams’ lesser known 1970’s material. Although slight synthetic accents are employed at times, Spirited Away is a score of symphonic sunshine, carried by a theme for the primary character that is defiant in its optimism without ever openly declaring its determination. The throwback melody on piano (performed by Hisaishi himself) is the obvious highlight of the score, conveyed in flighty tone early, referenced frequently in melancholy shades in the middle, and flourishing with orchestral accompaniment in the final two score cues. Other themes include a strictly symphonic one of equal buoyancy for the tale’s fantasy elements, a strikingly discordant series of jagged chords on piano for the sorceress Yubaba, a surprisingly lighthearted march for the bathhouse at the center of the fantasyland, and a few percussive motifs of bubbly and occasionally clumsy personality for the characters within. The entire package is crisp in its performances and creative in its use of the ensemble and soloists; Hisaishi’s piano is often forced into duty at both the highest and lowest reaches of the instrument (exemplified best by Yubaba’s theme). A lack of strong connections between these themes is the score’s main weakness, encouraging the listener to grasp the lovely reprises of the girl’s theme throughout the album presentation. With the consistency that “Reprise” and “The Return” finally bring to the score’s flow on album, it’s no surprise that these moments translate into such fine concert representations. While Hisaishi never allows the score’s brightest moments to jump with the wild enthusiasm of the old Warner Brothers masters, Spirited Away does feature plenty of sudden shifts in direction. Another problematic aspect of the score is its anonymous structures in these middle passages; although they function well in every circumstance, they don’t carry the narrative on album as effectively as hoped. This is likely due to the fact that Hisashi’s handling of the minor-key mode is so unconvincing. Still, Spirited Away offers ten to fifteen minutes of Hisaishi at his best, and a series of identical Milan Records albums in 2001 and 2002 joined a plethora of Japanese products devoted to the score (including a limited specialty item and an “image” cover album) at about the same time. ***”
Joe Hisaishi
Spirited Away
(Milan, 2001)
MediaFire DL Link
Selected track: One Summer’s Day [MP3]
